Testimony began today in the trial of former Dallas County Constable Jaime Cortes, who faces felony charges for allegedly falsifying campaign finance records to hide cash payments from his deputies for raffle tickets.

“The evidence will be really beyond any doubt that Jaime Cortes by his own hand, under oath, knowingly and intentionally falsified his campaign finance report,” special prosecutor Marquette Wolf said in his opening statement. “He did so for the purpose of disguising the nature of his fundraising, what he was doing and the people involved.”

Cortes’s defense attorney, Wayne Lacy, did not make an opening statement.

State law allows nonprofit organizations to hold raffles but forbids them to benefit political campaigns.

Special prosecutors Wolf and Ted Steinke called several law enforcement officers who worked under Cortes in Precinct 5 and testified that they were given $250 worth of raffle tickets to sell at $5 each to benefit the Cortes campaign in 2007. Most said they had trouble selling them and paid for all or some of them out of their own pockets.

Numerous officers who testified said they gave their money to a top Cortes deputy.

But Richard Talamantez, a lieutenant under Cortes, testified that he gave Cortes $250 cash directly for the raffle tickets.

Wolf asked him if he had sold the tickets or bought them himself.

“I bought them myself,” Talamantez said.

As with other witnesses, Talamantez was shown Cortes’s campaign finance forms and asked if his name and contribution amount was listed. It was not.

In some cases, Cortes did document contributions over $50 from members of his precinct, as required by law. It appears those were cases in which the money was paid by check and therefore could be traced.

Former Deputy Constable Jeffrey Aaron testified that he gave a $100 contribution in the form of a check and a separate $250 contribution in cash for the raffle tickets. The $100 contribution was documented in campaign finance reports, while the $250 contribution was not, according to testimony.

The state has rested and Cortes could take the stand in his own defense at some point this afternoon.

Special prosecutors were brought in to handle the case after Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he had a conflict and backed off the case.

The constable raffle scheme was part of a broad investigation of the constables’ office. It included a special investigation ordered by county commissioners. The Dallas Morning News first reported in 2009 how then-Constable Derick Evans was able to use raffle tickets to boost his campaign coffers.